December: Orlando Vacation

For Christmas this year Brian and I surprised the kids and told them we were leaving on a trip to Disney World for the Holidays. This, much to our dismay, was met with great dissappointment by the children because Santa would not be able to find us and we wouldn't be having our traditional home Christmas. But as the trip got closer, the excitement started to fill our home. We left on our anniversary #13.



We convinced Nana and Grandpa Hall to join us as we were going to be staying in a house in Orlando with their daughter Kathryn and their family.


We were so excited to see everybody at the airport. Seamus had grown 7 INCHES to 6 foot 1 since the last time we saw him in April. His shoe size was a 13 to match his age. Stu said to us, "Wait till you see how much he eats!"

We had every day scheduled for a venue.

First Day: Magic Kingdom

Cold early morning ferry ride over to Magic Kingdom. We could see the entrance.




I told Brian he would have to shut up and smile for all my pictures.



Early ride, Aladdin's magic carpet.


Max, as usual, did his own thing!


Brunch at the Crystal Palace.

Kathryn was smart and had arranged for one meal for us at each of the venues. This way we had the kids eat a good breakfast, a good meal during our day, and snacks/dinner at night. She always made sure there were characters at each meal place! Most of the meals were buffets and each establishment was sorry they allowed Seamus to count as one person as he ate enough for 12 people. At one breakfast he had 40 slices of bacon right in front of me!


Tigger & Pooh...


Eeyore too!
Br'er rabbit


We rode splash mountain several times and you should have heard the boys squeel!


And seeing Woody made the day for Coleman and Ethan.


We stayed there late which allowed us to see the beautiful lights. Kathryn and I tried to leave an hour ahead of the group to get dinner going and to put our toddlers to bed. Unfortutely, we ended up walking over 3 miles looking for the car which we couldn't find. Finally, in desperation, broke down and called the men and confessed our woes. They laughed and then couldn't find it themselves for a bit. This made us feel a little better. Regardless, our first day at Disney World Magic Kingdom and we ended up walking for 13 hours and we were exhausted!


The many miles walked translated into exhausted children at bedtime and happy parents with a quiet house.


We kept chuckling because who needs Mickey Mouse when you have the Hall-Browns for entertainement. Between card games and Nintendo DS machines the boys would have stayed in their rooms all day long.


Second Day: Animal Kingdom

Animal kingdom was by far our favorite venue. It was less crowded and had much more for the little kids to do.


We ate lunch at a cool rainforest cafe where fake elephants and lions roared and waterfall's cascaded around us.



Our favorite ride there was Expedition Everest. This was a rollercoaster we rode 3 times, with the last getting Stu sick. At one point in the ride you come to a part of the track that is broken, you have no where to go but backwards all the way back down the ride!



While the big kids rode rollercoasters, Kathryn and Rozanne took Ethan and Henry on the little rides.



Another highlight was the Kilimanjaro safari ride.


After many rides we watched a safari parade.



Then a Lion King spectacular.


Ethan wasn't that impressed.


The end of the day was capped off with a ride on the rapids. Nobody else was riding this ride since the temperature during the day was low 60s and by the time the sunset mid to low 50s.





It didn't stop the Hall's or Hall-Browns from riding it 8 CONSECUTIVE TIMES! Every single one of us (minus Ethan & Henry) road the rapids.


Needless to say we were a little wet.

Third Day: Epcot Center

On Wednesday, we had our first of two days at the Epcot Center. Kathryn and Stu had been to Disney World before and made it clear that we needed to visit Epcot twice. The first day there we spent our time in the front of the resort, experiencing expeditions, rides, and shows. The ride Soaring was the crowd favorite as you "hanglide" above California.


The Nemo comedy show was a hit with the kids.



We even made our own video games (check out Roger and Rozanne).


Mostly though, we were tired. Three straight days of walking was wearing us down.


We needed time to chill.



The kids tried to capture the floating water for about an hour, at that point we decided to call it a day.


We went home to another one of Kathryn's amazing dinners.


Then the kids decided we needed a little dip in the neighborhood pool at eight o'clock at night.




Fourth Day & Christmas Eve: Universal Studio

On our fourth day we headed to Universal studios and made a bee line straight to the Toy Story ride. It was our longest wait out of every resort but it didn't dissapoint. Ethan loved it! It was a major competition to see who could hit the most targets.


Four fingered Mr. Potato Head and a four fingered Nana.

Emperor Zurg wins!


Cool dudes.


We couldn't leave without a visit with Sulley and Mike.


Star wars is a favorite with every boy (and girl)!


Sophie hanging out in make believe New York City.


The stunt show was amazing.





We stayed late to watch the Fantasmic Show along with touring the Christmas Lights Show down main street. They even had fake snow trickling down on us while Christmas music was blasted from loud speakers. It ain't no Temple Square.





We had a wonderful day. That night, for Christmas Eve we sang Christmas songs and Grandpa Hall read the Christmas Story. We drank hot wassel and prepared for bed, although the anticipation was too much for the kids.


Fifth Day & Christmas Day:

Christmas morning started for the boys at 4:30am. I scolded them and promptly took them back to their room!


Then, at a more appropriate hour, we gathered in the living room with our little tree. Each child got to open the one present they received from Santa. The trip was our gift and they understood that.


I realized we only need one gift each to make Christmas special. This might become our new tradition. Grandpa Hall still thought they were all spoiled!



Afterwards, off we went to the Magic Kingdom for our 2nd day on the resort. We first did all the rides and lands we hadn't seen the first day. We were all tired though and with the slow start because of Christmas morning we didn't have fast passes and waited a lot.



At least Ethan had Seamus to entertain him during the wait time.



After a ride on It's a Small World we came out of the ride and was hit by a monsoon. There was no cover as it had been taken by everyone and we were soaked completely through to the bone within 10 minutes. I had even packed rain coats but nothing was keeping us dry in this storm. It was as if we had all jumped into a lake.


The ferry ride back to our cars was so long, cold, and windy we were dying!




It didn't seem to dampen a soaked Henry who took advantage of the weather to do some puddle jumping.


After our soaking we were ready to call it a day and we headed home for some relaxing time in the house. For dinner, instead of our nice dinner on the resort, it was off to Ci Ci's all you can eat pizza buffet for $3.99! Merry Christmas! It was not a traditional Nana roast beef or Papa Martin turkey dinner on Christmas day.

Sixth Day: Epcot Center

Our second day at Epcot allowed us to tour the Country exhibits.


Mexico was our favorite for the churros...


Sweden was our favorite because we ate with Disney Princesses!



Andrew bought a necklace in China and a Norweigin sword with some Christmas money from Nana.


The USA exhibit was patriotic with a parade but the movie was hard for me to stay awake in, in fact, slept nicely.






We boycotted the French exhibit because Brian said so and stayed extra long in Canada in honor of Nana.

Hall-Browns.

Halls.

It was a memorable, exciting, and exhausting trip. I was ready for a long vacation! j/k